1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to bowling alley constructions and, more particularly, to bowling alleys utilizing laminates having upwardly facing surfaces which simulate laminated bedstock.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, bowling alleys have utilized crib understructure or sunken subway gutters for supporting bowling alley beds directly thereon. Such bowling alley beds are typically constructed of loose tongue-and-groove laminated bedstock fixed onto a base platform carried on top of the crib structure.
Not only is a tongue-and-groove laminated bedstock initially expensive to construct, but it is also expensive to maintain. The surfaces of such bowling alleys must be regularly sanded and refinished. Also, depsite the fact that hardwoods are used in the areas of ball and pin impacts, dents in the alley surface do occur when bowlers drop bowling balls onto the alley surface. Even the bowling pins will dent and nick the hardwood finish when struck with sufficient force. These dents must be removed by relatively deep sanding before refinishing.
With the development of relatively high pressure-type laminate materials, special products were developed for refinishing bowling alleys such as, for example, a laminate called PERMA-LANE, manufactured by General Electric. This product is a high pressure laminate with an integral hard plastic surface which has the appearance of a conventional laminated wooden bedstock bowling alley and is applied directly to the sanded surface of an existing alley.
While such constructions worked well in the lane sections of the alley, in the approach and pin deck sections the relatively thin laminate supported only by thin planking proved unsuccessful because the laminate could not withstand the impact vibrations and the adhesives bonding the laminate to the wooden planking would loosen and the laminate would separate. The loose tongue-and-groove construction, even when nailed together, could not fully resist relative movement between adjacent slats and as the slats became thinner as a result of repeated sanding of the surface thereof such resistance to relative movement decreased thus allowing the nails to loosen and creating a greater tendency for the laminate to break its bond with the alley deck when forces were applied to the top surface thereof. It is believed that such separation was further, at least partially, due to the difference in hardness between the relatively soft wood and the hard laminate.
Therefore, there has been a need for a technique for using such special products on thin planked alleys which would withstand the vibrations in the high impact sections of the alley. The present invention satisfies that need.